Case Number 05386

KALEIDO STAR: VOLUME 1

The Charge

"That's right! I can't say that I can't do it. I can do it!"
-- Sora, after a misstep during her first performance.

Opening Statement

Kaleido Star is absolutely delightful. At first glance, it seems to be
a sort of dreamy, cutesy fantasy world, sort of like Cirque de Soleil. In other
words, all fluff, no substance. But a closer look reveals that the performance
aspect of the show is actually the smallest part of it, and what really counts
is the relationships that Sora (the main character) forms as a result of her
involvement with the Kaleido Stage. Her shyness and awkwardness transform into a
grace and confidence that are reflected in her performances, and we enjoy
watching her go through the process of discovering herself and her true
ability.

Facts of the Case

Sora Naegino travels from Japan to the USA in order to perform on the Kaleido
Stage. It has been her dream since she was a child, when she saw Kaleido Star
with her parents. As soon as she gets into town, she has a chance encounter with
a mysterious man, and her bag is stolen. Her quest to recover it leads her to
police custody, where she meets Mr. Policeman, a huge and gentle hulk of a man
who decides to look out for Sora since she isn't with her parents.
Unfortunately, the police processing delays her leaving for Kaleido Star
auditions, and she arrives too late. The stage manager, Ken, falls in love with
her instantly, and is about to make an exception and let her try out, when the
star of the show, Layla, flatly refuses. Incredibly, it turns out that the
mysterious man she met in town is actually the owner of Kaleido Stage, and he
wants to give her a chance to prove herself. Thrusting her into the show that
night after another performer cannot go on, he decides that she has a ways to
go, but that she has passed her audition and will be trained for the Kaleido
stage.

This leads to much resentment among the new inductees, who think she got a
special break because she knows the owner. After having tried out two or three
times before getting in, they think her acceptance was too easy, and they want
her to prove herself. This leads to several challenges that Sora must overcome,
and who she meets along the way will make a difference. One of her allies is
Fool, a living doll who calls himself the "Sprit of the Stage" and can
only be seen and heard by Sora. He tells her that only those destined to perform
a difficult maneuver can see him, and Sora is the chosen one. Of course, he
barely gets this out before she freaks out and knocks him across the room, then
rubs her eyes very hard to make sure that hearing dolls speak doesn't mean she's
going crazy.

Sora doesn't always perfectly overcome the challenges that she faces, but
she never backs down, and gradually she earns the respect, if not the good word,
of the others involved.

The Evidence

Although the series is set in the United States with a multicultural cast,
there's a definitely Japanese aura to Kaleido Star. Two things stood out
for me: the idea that conflict improves character, and the merciless taunting
and hazing that peers subject each other to. Only in Japan do these things
become opportunities for character development. Sora gets plenty of both in the
series, which is why we root for her. In the first episode, when she is rushed
on stage without a rehearsal, she is far from graceful or even competent...she
misses her cue, lands on her backside instead of her feet, then slips off the
trampoline altogether at the end -- the one botched performance in an otherwise
perfect production. But it's that one kid in the audience yelling "Keep
trying, Miss Rabbit!" (Sora is in a rabbit costume) that makes it all worth
while, and if the show has already worked its magic on the audience by then,
we're feeling the elation that Sora feels when she hears this encouragement.

Athleticism is important for Kaleido Stage, and we actually see more of what
Sora does to prepare for her performance than the actual performance itself. At
first, she can't even swing on the trapeze; she merely hangs, then falls to the
net. We see the effort she puts into just swinging from one trapeze to another,
something that looks so effortless when you are in the audience. We see the
bruises she comes home with, and when another character notices, she strikes a
pose and proudly proclaims, "These are my battle scars!" This does
much to remove the saccharine goopiness that one might expect a show like this
to be clogged with. Although Sora is idealistic and manages to work through all
the challenges put to her, we know there is a tangible cost.

Of course, there is a little romance, too. Ken, the kindly teen with a bad
heart who "performs" for Kaleido Stage behind the scenes, loves Sora
but can't find a way to tell her. It's sweet to watch him encourage and support
her, often with surprisingly tough methods, just for that moment when she smiles
and tells him how much he means to her. Ken isn't your typical "I see
nothing but her" boy; he keeps his head and gets the job done, balancing
Sora's happiness with what is best for the Kaleido Stage. Again, this helps to
make the relationship between Ken and Sora less cutesy and more sweet.

I can't sing the praises of Kaleido Star without mentioning one of
the smallest characters: Fool. In concept, he sounds annoying -- a living doll
dispensing advice about how to be a great stage performer? Apparently, the
creators agree, because Fool comes on, speaking in his breathy, ethereal voice,
dispensing advice and words of wisdom, and Sora promptly ties him up and stuffs
him in her dresser, or accidentally knocks him across the room when she's
working out. "How dare you treat the Spirit of the Stage this way?!"
he demands. Then, when there's no answer, he ventures a timid, "Sora?"
After a while, she sort of grudgingly accepts him, and their relationship
provides much of the comic relief in the series.

What I liked best about Kaleido Star was its attitude: Sora succeeds
because she recognizes what she has done well and what she needs to work on. She
may go out on stage and miss her final cue altogether, plummeting to the net.
Instead of seeing this as abject failure, she instead focuses on the middle of
her performance, which was difficult to achieve and hard-won. She sees her
success there, and vows to work on the finale. Through challenge comes
character. This is an excellent message that anyone can benefit from --
recognize your success, make it the core of your strength, and use it to help
you overcome your failures. It's simple and elegant, and I can't think of a more
entertaining way to hear it than through the gorgeous scenery and compelling
stories of Kaleido Star.

Kaleido Star has some wonderful music, which is thankfully not
traditionally circusy at all -- it sets the mood for both happy and sad scenes,
yet never overwhelms. Most of the English voice acting is right on, with Cynthia
Martinez turning in a spunky, effervescent performance for the title role of
Sora that helps to establish her personality early in Episode One.

To complement the dazzling animation, which is bright and clear and has
convincing sparkle effects during performance scenes, the DVD transfer for
Kaleido Star is topnotch. The color depth is bold, the image is clear,
and the 3D animation (mostly in the beginning scenes when Sora comes in by
airplane and sees Kaleido Stage for the first time) blends seamlessly with the
traditional animation. Sound quality is also excellent, with a clear and robust
Japanese 2.0 soundtrack as well as an English 5.1 soundtrack. For the 5.1 dub,
voices and certain ambient sounds travel well between all channels, with
offscreen characters appearing in back speakers before traveling to the front
channels. This series uses the 5.1 separation well. The extras are nothing
special, with a palm-sized cardboard standee of Sora included as an insert and
some production sketches in the extras section. Probably the most helpful or
useful extra is the character bios insert. Here, you get a peek at some of the
motivations for the characters that are not yet revealed in this first disc.
There are no spoilers; it just helps to round out some of the more major
character arcs.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

About the only stumbling block here was the English dub voice for Ken. What I
expected was a soft, clear voice for Ken, who is fair-skinned, blond and
blue-eyed, and has a heart condition -- all traits that make him appear
physically fragile. Instead, Ken has a deeper, throaty voice. It's not a bad
voice, per se, and the actor definitely nails the hesitant way that Ken
speaks, but it seems stronger than what I would expect for Ken. However, it
wasn't long before I warmed up to it and understood that the strength
communicated in his voice was a reflection of the strength he felt inside. It's
not the typical choice for that type of anime character, but I think that has
more to do with my own particular expectations and what I have come to see as a
pattern in this type of fragile character than with the voice itself.

Otherwise, there is very little to complain about with this series, other
than the usual: not many extras here. Still, with five episodes per disc, that
isn't so bad.

Closing Statement

This is definitely one to check out, especially if you were initially turned
off by the heavily magical-looking trailers for this series...aside from the
enchanted Fool, there isn't much that is supernatural about this series. It's
more about character, determination, and facing life's challenges head on, on
your own terms. It's good stuff.